Light emitting diodes and laser diodes are well known solid state lighting elements capable of generating light upon application of a sufficient current. Light emitting diodes and laser diodes may be generally referred to as light emitting devices (“LEDs”). Light emitting devices generally include a p-n junction formed in an epitaxial layer grown on a substrate such as sapphire, silicon, silicon carbide, gallium arsenide and the like. The wavelength distribution of the light generated by the LED generally depends on the material from which the p-n junction is fabricated and the structure of the thin epitaxial layers that make up the active region of the device.
Typically, an LED chip includes a substrate, an n-type epitaxial region formed on the substrate and a p-type epitaxial region formed on the n-type epitaxial region (or vice-versa). In order to facilitate the application of a current to the device, an anode contact may be formed on a p-type region of the device (typically, an exposed p-type epitaxial layer) and a cathode contact may be formed on an n-type region of the device (such as the substrate or an exposed n-type epitaxial layer). When a potential is applied to the ohmic contacts, electrons may be injected into an active region from the n-type layer and holes may be injected into the active region from the p-type layer. The radiative recombination of electrons and holes within the active region generates light. Some LED chips include an active region with multiple light emitting regions or active layers (also known as multi-quantum-well structures) between or near the junction of the n-type and p-type layers.
LEDs may be used in lighting/general illumination applications, for example, as a replacement for conventional incandescent and/or fluorescent lighting. As such, it is often desirable to provide a lighting source that generates white light having a relatively high color rendering index (CRI), so that objects illuminated by the lighting may appear more natural. The color rendering index of a light source is an objective measure of the ability of the light generated by the source to accurately illuminate a broad range of colors. The color rendering index ranges from essentially zero for monochromatic sources to nearly 100 for incandescent sources. Alternatively, it may be desirable to provide a light source that may differ significantly from a light source with a high CRI index, but may still require a tailored spectrum.
In addition, the chromaticity of a particular light source may be referred to as the “color point” of the source. For a white light source, the chromaticity may be referred to as the “white point” of the source. The white point of a white light source may fall along a locus of chromaticity points corresponding to the color of light emitted by a black-body radiator heated to a given temperature. Accordingly, a white point may be identified by a correlated color temperature (CCT) of the light source, which is the temperature at which the heated black-body radiator matches the color or hue of the white light source. White light typically has a CCT of between about 4000 and 8000K. White light with a CCT of 4000 has a yellowish color. White light with a CCT of 8000K is more bluish in color, and may be referred to as “cool white”. “Warm white” may be used to describe white light with a CCT of between about 2600K and 6000K, which is more reddish in color.
The light from a single-color LED may be converted to white light by surrounding the LED with a wavelength conversion material, such as a phosphor. The term “phosphor” may be used herein to refer to any materials that absorb light in one wavelength range and re-emit light in a different wavelength range, regardless of the delay between absorption and re-emission and regardless of the wavelengths involved. A fraction of the light may also pass through the phosphor and/or be reemitted from the phosphor at essentially the same wavelength as the incident light, experiencing little or no down-conversion. In general, phosphors absorb light having shorter wavelengths and re-emit light having longer wavelengths. As such, some or all of the light emitted by the LED at a first wavelength may be absorbed by the phosphor particles, which may responsively emit light at a second wavelength. For example, a single blue emitting LED may be surrounded with a yellow phosphor, such as cerium-doped yttrium aluminum garnet (YAG). The resulting light, which is a combination of blue light and yellow light, may appear white to an observer.
However, the use of phosphor-based solid state lighting components for general illumination purposes may present several challenges. For example, the light generated from a phosphor-based solid state lighting component including a blue-emitting LED and a yellow-emitting phosphor may have a relatively low CRI. As such, objects illuminated by the light from such a component may not appear to have natural coloring due to the limited spectrum of the light. While a red phosphor may be included to improve the color rendering, the red-emitting phosphor particles may be subject to greater degradation over time than the yellow-emitting phosphor particles, which may decrease the useful lifetime of the light source. Accordingly, knowledge of the specific contributions of each of the elements (e.g., LED chip, phosphors, encapsulants, etc.) within a lighting source or component to the overall light output may be useful in designing lighting components to provide a desired light output.